A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to telecommunications. More particularly, the invention relates to systems, including apparatus and methods, for testing the continuity of telecommunication cables. The invention has particular utility in performing standard continuity tests on four-pair copper cables.
2. Background Information
The state of the art includes a number of devices and methods for testing the continuity of telecommunication cables. Some of these devices and methods are illustrated by the Four Pair Cable Test Set and the known art described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,497, which is assigned to Applicants"" assignee and is hereby incorporated by reference as Appendix H.
The present invention provides a cable continuity test system which is believed to constitute an improvement over the known art.
The present invention provides a cable continuity test system which generally comprises a test set unit and at least one programmable terminator unit. The system preferably tests cables extending from a closet to a workstation or station. Each terminator is connected to the opposite end of the cable being tested. The two units establish a communications link if any two conductors have continuity from the closet end to the station end of the cable. Testing begins after a communication link is established.
The cable continuity test system is completely automatic and can, for example, perform a complete standard continuity test of a single four-pair cable in approximately one second. The system detects a live line, i.e. power on any two conductors, and also detects opens, shorts, reversals, crosses, and split pairs. Additionally, the system can detect the wiremap configuration on the workstation end of the cable. The test results can be viewed on several different test result screens and can be stored in memory for later retrieval.
The system includes a number of setup and operating features. With respect to setting a cable continuity test system, the present invention includes the following features: locating tone; site name or location; wiremap for station end; the test end may be either the closet or the station end; a cable view perspective from either the closet end, the station end, or both ends; a clock time and date; add sites (names) from personal computer or menu; beeper control; and an automatic power down timer on/off control. With respect to testing a cable, the present invention includes the following features: data about the cable can be displayed in a text mode, in a graphic mode, or in a simple pass/fail mode.
The system preferably further includes a menu-driven software within the test set unit which allows a user to test and save a number of sites, to select a station wiremap, to select the test set end, to select a cable view, and to select tone generation for wire location.
When a cable is tested, the system may display the status of each conductor in the cable. Possible status displays include: (1) OK: Pair contains no miswires; (2) OPEN: Tip and Ring of that pair are both open; (3) SHORTED: Tip and Ring of that pair are shorted; (4) REVERSED: Tip and Ring of that pair are reversed; (5) CROSSED: Pair is crossed with a second pair; (6) SPLIT: Pair is split with a second pair; (7) T OPEN: Tip of that pair is open; (8) R OPEN: Ring of that pair is open; (9) T SHORT: Tip of that pair is shorted; (10) R SHORT: Ring of that pair is shorted; (11) T CROSS: Tip of that pair is crossed or transposed; and (12) R CROSS: Ring of that pair is crossed or transposed. The data for each site is stored in the test set unit, may be uploaded into a data manager in a personal computer, and may be processed into reports and other usable information using the software data manager, and may be archived.
Significant features of the invention include the use of one or more programmable terminator units, each of which include an auto power-up and a current detection method. The test set unit is field upgradable, is capable of storing and retrieving records for a number of different sites, reduces the effects of line capacitance by using a current source for communication, displays a variety of cable views, detects split pairs, is capable of testing from either end of the cable without additional adaptive hardware, and is capable of uploading records to a personal computer. The PC Software Data Manager provides various three dimensional cable views, and a record printouts for documenting the results of the continuity tests, identifies a variety of wire mappings including T568A, T568B, USOC 3, USOC 4,10 BASE-T and TOKEN RING, and stores records for archives.
The features, benefits and objects of this invention will become clear to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description, claim(s), if any, and drawings.